Life Sciences lectures bring together scientists and scholars to discuss diverse topics related to fundamental questions in biology. The lectures are open to the public and are held at the Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium at the Simons Foundation headquarters in New York City. Tea is served prior to each lecture.

On 1 February 2017, Arnold Kriegstein described recent advances in our understanding of the unique features of human cortical development and discussed insights into the origins of neurodevelopmental disorders.

His talk was part of the Simons Foundation Life Sciences lecture series.

About the Lecture

The developing human cortex contains a massively expanded outer subventricular zone, not found in rodents, that contains neural progenitor cells responsible for an evolutionary increase in cortical size and complexity. Transcriptome profiling of these cells has provided a novel model of primate corticogenesis and provided insights into lissencephaly (smooth brain syndrome) and microcephaly (smaller than normal brain size).

In this lecture, Arnold Kriegstein described recent advances in our understanding of the unique features of human cortical development. He also highlighted an evolutionary increase in the number of a specific subtype of neural stem cell, oRG cells, which in concert with their transit amplifying daughter cells, contributed to increased cortical size and complexity of the human brain. In addition, he discussed how mRNA sequencing of single human progenitor cells and immature cortical neurons led to a novel model of human cortical development and provided insights into the origins of neurodevelopmental disease.

About the Speaker

Arnold Kriegstein received his B.A. from Yale University and his M.D. and Ph.D. from New York University in 1977. He completed residency training in neurology at Harvard University and is a board-certified neurologist. He has held academic appointments at Stanford, Yale and Columbia. In 2004, he became the founding director of the Broad Stem Cell Center at the University of California, San Francisco. His research focuses on development of the embryonic human and mouse brain.

Past Lectures

On April 24, 2019, David Ginty presented his work on the neurobiological basis of touch over-reactivity in mouse models of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). He also discussed new pharmacological approaches aimed at reducing sensory over-reactivity and potentially improving cognitive and behavioral abnormalities associated with ASD.

David Van Essen, Ph.D.Alumni Endowed Professor, Washington University in St. Louis

On April 3, 2019, David Van Essen provided an overview of basic principles of cortical organization and connectivity from studies of laboratory animals and analyses of individual variability in humans. He also highlighted a new map (‘parcellation’) of the human cerebral cortex based on data from the Human Connectome Project.